John C. Stennis Space Center

In 1961 President John F. Kennedy announced plans to send humans to the moon. NASA selected this site for an engine testing facility for the Apollo Moon program. During its construction in 1963, nearly 6,100 workers began building three 200-foot-tall test stands. This 13,800-acre federal city, the largest rocket engine testing facility in the United States, is surrounded by a 125,000-acre buffer zone. The Stennis Space Center tested the main engines for each of the 135 space shuttle missions.